Agenda - 09-16-1986 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The majority of mobile homes (88%) have been of single-wide construction, while the average cost of all units has increased from $9,408 in 1980 to $15.315 in 1986. Health/Safety Issues The affordability of mobile homes is one reason for their prolifera- ation in Orange County. While numbers have increased, though, concern over health and safety issues have risen as well. The Orange County Emergency .Services office was asked to comment on standards which should be considered in the development of any ordinances governing mobile homes. A similar request was made of the Orange. County Firefighters Associated and the Fire Chiefs Counsel. All groups addressed similar concerns: (1) Park/unit identification; (2) unit spacing; (3) accessway dimensions and obstructions; and (4) service/construction standards. Recommended standards are attached to this report for consideration by advisory groups and the governing board in ordinance drafting. Design Standards A final consideration was the design standards of other jurisdic- tions. The basic question is to be answered is - Are the present standards comparable or too restrictive? The attached comparison sheet indicates two features. First, differences do occur from one jurisdiction to another, but there are a number of similar standards, including tract size. pad/stand. patio, driveway. buffer. street lighting and walkway require- ments. Second. some significant differences do exist in mobile home and recreation space standards. Even though the present County standards are higher than surrounding jurisdictions, there are precedents statewide for the requirements. As an example, Mecklenburg County has the same recrea- tion space standard - 8% of the site area. Lee County requires a 10,000 sq. ft. minimum lot size even with a public or community water/sewer system. Lots may be reduced to 7.500 sq. ft. in area if a minimum of 10% of the site is donated to recreation use. Other counties such as Edgecombe and Cumberland either limit mobile home parks to higher density districts (6.000 sq. ft./unit) or limit density by the underlying zoning require- ments.i.e. , 40.000 sq. ft. in an Agricultural-Residential district. Wilson County permits spaces less than 10.000 sq. ft. in area but couples lower standards with a recreation space requirement of 400 sq. ft. for each unit. This results in a five percent recreation space standard. The basic issue which has arisen in terms of design standards is the mobile home space requirement of 10,000 sq. ft. per unit. This is . equivalent to an average density of four (4) units per acre. From the 1984 survey. 102 mobile home parks were found to be in Orange County's jurisdic- tion. The parks contained 1,883 units and had an overall net density of 1.16 units per acre. Of the 102 parks. 24 (24%) exceeded the density standard of four units per acre. These parks, however, contained 745 or 40% of all mobile homes.